NES Pro Wrestling: 1HN Slam Action

NES Pro Wrestling was one of the first games I remember witnessing being played on the NES during my junior high school days. I recall the day well: I rode my bike to my acquaintance (I'll explain later) Joshua's house. At the time, I looked forward to playing some games with him on his Nintendo Entertainment System because, well, I didn't have one. Anyway, when I arrived, I got to watch him play a game in which wrestlers were slammed, thrown, clotheslined, pile-driven, and back-broken (can I say that?!). I remember being eager to play...

And I waited... For one hour... Two hours...

After over two hours of waiting, I realized dimly that Joshua would never let me play. I'm not sure he was even aware of my presence in his living room while he played. That is not to say that I was angry or even despondent because I enjoyed watching him, but over time I have come to conclude that Joshua was rather selfish and inhospitable (which, in turn, compels me to encourage my boys to share video game time with each other and with friends who visit). Funnily enough, though, those observations were absent in my mind.

Sadly, I ended up getting home late that day and my parents were rightfully upset and worried. In a feeble attempt to perhaps stave off their ire, I had set my wristwatch back one hour; that way, I could offer the excuse that the time on my watch was wrong. Of course, that got them even more upset because I had proven that I wasn't careful enough to keep time accurately on my watch (not to mention, I lied!). Ah, the memories...

NES Pro Wrestling was one of the early Nintendo-brand releases for the NES console. It has the look and feel of the initial NES releases with the black-covered manuals and 8-bit-rendered cartridge labels with the black spines. When I received NES Pro Wrestling for Christmas one year (I forget which one), I recall how oddly pleased I was that the look of the cartridge matched some of my other NES titles, like Baseball and Ice Climber. For some reason, I was really interested in uniformity… Anyway, NES Pro Wrestling features six characters: Fighter Hayabusa, Starman, Kin Korn Karn, Giant Panther, The Amazon, and King Slender. 

Each character can punch, kick, body slam, and throw an opponent against the ropes to either knee him in the face or clothesline him. Yet, what’s really fun is that each character has his own special moves. For example, Giant Panther can either head-butt the opponent or administer the “Iron Claw,” which is when he grabs the face of his opponent with his palm and squeezes. Each time a wrestler performs his special move, his foe collapses into a heap, after which the wrestler can either pin his foe or pull him up… by the hair.

NES Pro Wrestling is still alive and well in my collection and my boys get a kick out of wrestling with each other. For an 8-bit NES game, NES Pro Wrestling does have some depth with all the special moves and strategies one can employ. One of my favorite strategies is to use Starman’s Flying Cross Chop from a standing position. Originally, the move was intended to be performed after an opponent is thrown against the ropes, but I learned that one can fly through the air and chop the opposing wrestler from a standing position WITHOUT throwing him. As one plays, one picks up on these little tactics and misuses of special moves, as well as on the fact that there is a twenty-second limit when a wrestler is outside the ring. I won’t give away the strategy for using that time limit. As an aside, the only stipulation I have made with my boys is that they cannot play with The Amazon because special moves involve either using a dinner fork or his mouth to munch on the opposing player. 

This leads me to a discussion I had started on this blog long ago, when I wrote about violence in video games, initiating a one-sided discussion about the acceptable extent and intent of such violence. At that time, I reasoned that one should consider both how realistic the violence is portrayed and the intent of the violence in the game itself. Over time, though, I have given the issue much thought, especially vis-à-vis the Bible. Now, dare I say that the Bible does portray some violence, whether it be Samson slaying a thousand Philistines with the jawbone of a donkey, Joshua and his armies after the walls of Jericho fell, or David beheaded the felled Goliath after the slung stone found its mark. Considering these and many other examples, violence in war or in defense of one's home may be unavoidable. However, in the context of this blog, the crucial issue is how far does one go with violence for the sake of fun...

In my opinion, one has to look at each case and conclude based on personal convictions in relation to God’s word. In the case of NES Pro Wrestling, just like professional wrestling in real life, the “violence” is so cartoonish and rendered in that vague 8-bit style that the game is more of a stress reliever and less of a desensitizing force. I have observed my boys play the game, I have talked to them about how dangerous professional wrestling really is, and I have discussed how pro wrestlers are trained professionals who practice how to NOT hurt their opponents and yet execute athletically acrobatic moves. So far, my boys have not executed such moves on each other; more importantly, they understand that violence outside of a video game is inevitable in certain situations, such as during war or in defense of one’s home. There will be more on this later.